Reference is made to co-pending applications on this subject matter Ser. No. 08/876,402 filed Jun. 16, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,064, Ser. No. 08/889,737 filed Jul. 8, 1997, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,051, Ser. No. 08/906,291 filed Aug. 5, 1997, now abandoned and Ser. No. 08/939,815, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,926, 08/939,444 and 08/939,881, both now abandoned, all filed Sep. 19, 1997.
The technique of festooning has been available for many years and is used in packaging many different types of material but particularly material of a fibrous nature such as fabric, non-woven strips and the like. In this technique, the strip is conventionally guided into a receptacle such as a cardboard box while a first reciprocating movement causes lengths of the strip to be laid across the receptacle and folded back and forth and a second reciprocating movement causes the positions of the lengths to be traversed relative to the receptacle transversely to the lengths. Normally the receptacle comprises a rigid rectangular container at least partly of cardboard having a base and four upstanding sides.
The purpose of the festooning method is for packaging the strip for supply to a machine using the strip. Some users prefer the festooned package relative to a wound package of this type of material since the packaged strip can simply be located adjacent the machine without the necessity for any unwinding or support stand. In addition, both the leading end and the tail end of the package are available at the top of the package so that a series of the packages can be connected lead to tail to act as an extended supply. Yet further, since the material is simply laid into the package, there is less problem with tension control in the material as it is withdrawn from the package, in comparison with wound packages where tension control of large packages can be a problem due to the inertia of the package thus requiring a driven unwind stand as well as material handling equipment for moving the large rolls. There is therefore no need when festooned packages are used for a complex unwind stand which takes up more space than may be available and involves significant cost for the unwind Stand and for the services to power the unwind stand.
Festooned packages are formed in a stiff container or box to properly enclose and contain the material and within which the material is stored during transportation for maintaining the material against compression and distortion due to the transfer of loads from surrounding packages. The cardboard container thus provides support for other similar containers in stacked condition and prevents the transfer of loads from the stacked packages from causing compression of packages at the bottom of a stack. The cardboard containers and the package structures used in the conventional arrangement however have a number of problems.
Firstly the container must be either recycled with the necessity of shipping the cardboard containers in the return direction to the supplier from the end user or they must be trashed, both at considerable expense.
Secondly the cardboard containers simply receive the material without significant compression so that there is wastage of space within the container due to the packaging of air with the material. In addition the conventional package structure does not minimize the amount of air spaces formed in the structure. The transportation costs of the material therefore are significantly increased by the large volume of the material which provides a density which is significantly below the optimum for most efficient transport.
Thirdly the presence of the essential box during formation of the structure provides a restriction to the proper control of the strip as it is laid down since the sides of the box provide limitations to the position and movement of the guide member controlling the strip.
Fourthly it has been noted that the sides of the box which are parallel to the strips as they are laid down do not closely confine the sides of the package structure with the significant danger that the strips can fall down between the edge of the package and the box side.
There remains therefore a significant requirement for a package of this type but the techniques presently available are unsatisfactory for the above reasons leaving opportunity for an improved package structure.